Anne Says No
by MusicWriterGirl
Summary: PLEASE RATE AND REVIEW! You don't know how much I appreciate feedback! :   COMPLETED! This takes place during the movie when Gil first proposes to Anne and she declines.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters mentioned in this piece of writing. All characters belong, and rightfully so, to Lucy Maud Montgomery and Sullivan Entertainment.**

**This is my first Anne of Green Gables fanfiction, and it is based off of the movie **_**Anne of Green Gables- The Sequel**_**. This scene describes the fine details of the moment when Gil first proposes to Anne. I personally love this moment in the movie, despite its utter sadness. It always brings tears to my eyes to see Gilbert emotionlessly rejected by his kindred spirit.**

***I have written Chapter1 so far. I will write another chapter with enough reviews, I promise.***

Anne had known that Gilbert would seek her out at the party preceding Diana's anticipated wedding. She had attempted to avoid him by making small talk with her old classmates such as Jane and Ruby so that the people of Avonlea would not misinterpret anything between her and Gilbert. Such interpretations had provoked everyone in Avonlea to believe that she and Gil were meant to be together in a romantic manner. The last thing she wanted to do was give the gossipers something to chit chat about regarding her and Gil.

After she had exchanged greetings with all of the other guests, Anne decided to leave, as Fred and Diana had left to organize gifts. She secretly praised herself for staying out of the path of Gilbert and walked away in awe that he had not spoken to her yet. Anne walked through the woods and into the spectacularly beautiful meadow framed by the trees.

This clearing possesses the hint of imagery that autumn is approaching, Anne thinks to herself as she drinks in the beauty that is engulfing her surroundings.

Caught up within her imagination of frivolous things, Anne began to imagine sauntering with her ideal through the tall grasses of the field, being carried off into a land of idealism and romanticism.

"Excuse me, miss. May I?" Her imaginary suitor questioned, the words played in Anne's mind habitually as she replied out loud, "Me? I'd be honored to accept this dance." Without thinking twice, she acted as if her suitor was present at that very moment and extended her arms in a waltz position.

Gilbert Blythe had, much to Anne's dismay, followed her to the field, hoping to find a secluded and dreamy location to ask her an ever-so-important question. He had not, however, expected to find his kindred spirit engrossed within her fantasies of impractical ideals.

_If only she would be so captivated and passionate with me_, Gilbert thought. _If only I were the one who she cared about so. _

Though Gilbert had been debating whether or not to pose the question to her at the appropriate time of her bosom friend's wedding, Gilbert was reassured as a result of seeing his love so absorbed in her imagination. He tucked himself behind a tree at the edge of the meadow and watched in admiration as his Carrots danced away in the breeze, her auburn hair blustering in a swirl of fire.

"You have lovely starry violet eyes," Anne mocks in beau's tone. "Why, thank you. You can call me Cordelia," she replies to herself, for one split second feeling as if her name really was the deliciously romantic one that she had asked Marilla to call her all those years ago. "Cordelia, you have an exquisite rose leaf complexion," she said enchantingly.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Gilbert, who had quietly walked up behind her, hoping that he would have the honor of dancing with his beloved in such a gorgeous setting. She was so involved in her imaginations that she barely registered the presence of Gilbert. "Do allow me. I have an account to settle with this young lady. Your $20. Care to?" he asked, implying that he wanted to dance with Anne.

At first, Anne was somewhat reluctant to present Gilbert with the privilege of dancing with her. But, she concluded, he was just a chum, and will never be nothing more than a chum.

Anne entered his embrace, and the two futuristic lovers danced in the drizzly daze of dusk. Gilbert's mind and body rushed with romantic emotions and feelings as he gazed longingly into the sparkling gray eyes of Anne. He could hardly contain his smile because of the way she uplifted him and caused his heart to flurry in excitement.

Anne, who continued to assure herself that Gilbert was just a good friend, found it hard to gain the courage to look at him in the eye at such an embarrassing moment. Finally, she gained the courage to make eye contact with she gazed into his deep, chocolaty eyes, she saw them burning with desperate passion and desire that extended beyond friendship. Surprised by his tacit intentions, she attempted to break his embrace, but awkwardly tripped in the process.

"I'm sorry, Gil. I must have two left feet," she informed him with a nervous chuckle as she turned away and walked toward the bridge that extended across the Lake of Shining Waters.


	2. Chapter 2

Gilbert, without second thought, immediately followed Anne toward the bridge, slightly disappointed that she had broken away from his embrace. Still, he tried to stay optimistic that she would hopefully say "yes" to his ever-so-important question.

When Anne reached the center of the bridge, she stopped and gazed out at the lake, letting her mind ramble with poetic thoughts about the dim, sparkling waters that rippled underneath her. When she noticed that Gilbert had followed along, she made it a point not to speak. She did not want to encourage him to act romantically toward her and lure her in, and such an exquisite setting would, she thought, cause him to do so.

"What are you thinking about?" He questioned, gently placing his hand on Anne's shoulder. As Gilbert did so, he felt a warm sensation arise in his body, as usual whenever he came into contact with Anne.

Anne, however, pulled away immediately, partly out of sheer habit. "I'm afraid to speak or move for fear that all this wonderful beauty will just vanish like a broken silence." She said distantly, her eyes focused intensely on the lake, aiming to avoid Gilbert's longing expression.

Gilbert's body trembled slightly at Anne's graceful way with words. He always took delight of hearing her talk in such a beautiful way. _I would never get tired of hearing her endless bantering_, he thought to himself as he joined her in looking out onto the lake.

"Doesn't it remind you of our old school-day picnics?" he inquired, the memories of Anne during their school days pouring through his mind.

Anne smiled slightly at the memories. Oh, how she had been such a stubborn girl with an uncontrollable temper and attraction to trouble!

"Hmm…" Anne replied in agreement. "I don't want any of it to change," she said, sighing regretfully. "I wish I could just hold on to those days forever. I have a feeling things will never be the same again, will they?"

Gil noticed how Anne's heart was set on reliving her childhood days, when life was carefree and playful and friendly and simply fun. This, he determined, must be the way to win her heart.

"Well, I won't change. That's the least I can promise you," he assured her, turning her around so that she was facing him. He wanted her to know right then and there that he would do _anything_ for her, just so that she would be happy and fulfilled.

Anne continued to avert her eyes from his, though she could sense that he was staring at her intently with intentions beyond friendship.

"Anne…" Gilbert began, choking somewhat on his words, deathly afraid of what he was doing. What if she declined? What if she refused to talk to him ever again? That dreadful thought nearly made him grow teary-eyed and he attempted to continue talking despite the lump in his throat. He was not sure if he could carry on living without spending every minute of every day with the woman he had loved since he first met her at the Barry's picnic that one summer day when she was just thirteen. As the thoughts played in his mind, he remembered the point he was trying to achieve. "I…I want to ask you something."


	3. Chapter 3

"Gil, please don't." Anne felt a pit of regret grow inside of her as she told him the truth, or at least the truth that she had falsely convinced herself of. She did not have the courage to look him in the eye, afraid of the expression he would return her after her frank response.

Gilbert's eyes looked forlorn, like those of an unloved puppy in a pound. "What is it? You've been avoiding me all spring, ever since we graduated," he stated sadly, feeling as if all of the flaming happiness in his life had been dampened by the somber reality.

Anne paused and contemplated for a moment. "I never wanted to make you care for me so. I kept away so you wouldn't."

Gilbert, who had unpredictably turned the situation into regular conversation, decided to try and make Anne care for him in a different way. "Well, I won't be coming back to White Sands in the fall. Dalhousie Medical School's accepted me," he declared with a grin of accomplishment, hoping that Anne would find his accomplishment appealing.

"Gil, I'm so proud of you," Anne replied halfheartedly. She truly was proud of him, though she didn't want to display her sincere happiness in fear of being misunderstood completely.

"I'm sorry about last week," Gilbert said, trying to mend one of his many mistakes involving Anne. "I just wanted to show you how much I care. Now, maybe you don't think I'm good enough for you now, but I will be someday."

Anne's heart tore at his words. Him, too good for her? No, it was the opposite way around. She had so many flaws: her temper, her relentless chatter, her red hair. But Gilbert Blythe had no flaws, or at least none that were as bad as hers. He does not deserve someone like me, Anne thought to herself. He truly doesn't want me as his wife; he has only convinced himself into thinking so just out of desperateness.

Gilbert, on the other hand, was thinking just the opposite. She is too good for me; too smart, too beautiful in her own unique way, too brilliant with words and stories and imaginings. Who she really deserves is another writer, he thought, one who could dream up similar fantasies and shared similar characteristics. But Gilbert was too utterly desperate to hold himself back from continuing to persuade Anne to take his hand in marriage.

"We'd end up like two old crows, fighting all the time," Anne said, thinking back to all of the times she and Gilbert had gotten into arguments over such unimportant things. I know I'd be unhappy and I'd wish we'd never done it." Anne was somewhat unconvincing in her reply, and for the slightest second she thought of sharing a life with someone a rival like Gilbert, full of fun and competition. But Gilbert didn't just want fun and competition, Anne reminded herself, pushing away the thoughts in her mind.

"Everybody expects it. You must feel that," Gilbert moaned, a lump growing in his throat. He began to feel tears developing in his eyes but did everything in his power to prevent himself from showing his weakness. He wondered how Anne couldn't know that they were meant to be together. All of the schoolchildren, all of the townspeople, and even Marilla, Rachel Lynde, and Diana Barry had high hopes for their marriage. And if she was too blind to see even the littlest chemistry between them, how could she ever love him? Gil felt as hopeless as one could feel.


	4. Chapter 4

"Well, then, it would be for all the wrong reasons, Gil. You just think that you love me," Anne said, somewhat unconvincingly. Anne was beginning to tear up herself. She knew that Gilbert didn't just think that he loved her. She only was trying to thwart the nagging of her conscience that she was doing a disgrace to not only Gilbert, but the rest of Avonlea, and even herself.

Gilbert cringed at Anne's statement. Did she not realize after all of the years that they spend together how much he loved her? "Anne, I've loved you as long as I can remember," he clarified as the lump in his throat continued to grow. "I need you. I couldn't go away knowing that if I'd just..."

Tears were now streaming down Anne's face, as the truth sunk in: Gilbert Blythe loved her. He passionately, wholeheartedly, most certainly loved her. But she could never return his feelings. Accepting his proposal would make him unhappy for this very reason. Anne, making one final attempt to try and sort the situation out and to reassure Gilbert, said, "I promise that I will always be here if you need me. Good friends are always together in spirit. Let's not change, Gil. Let's go on being good friends." She desperately hoped that Gilbert would not ignore her for the rest of her existence because of this moment in time, as Anne still considered him her best friend, next to Diana.

"Friends, huh? I thought we were kindred spirits," Gilbert muttered in a hardly audible tone as the reality of Anne's rejection began to register with him. He stared deep into the eyes of Anne, which were dripping with a waterfall of tears. How beautiful Anne, the woman who was meant to be his wife, his kindred spirit, looked. "Please say yes," he murmured, his eyes filling with tears. Those three words were his last attempt, the last hope, the last possibility. Within the answer to those three words was Gilbert's future, his fate, and his destiny. With the answer of those three words, his life could become positively exuberant or positively dreadful and unlivable. He contemplated how much power words really possessed as he hoped and prayed inside that Anne would just surprise him and admit her love to him so that all in the world would be good and promising.

"I can't," Anne mumbled in between sobs. As the words escaped from her mouth, Gilbert felt his world crumble into millions of pieces that were seemingly impossible to put together again and make right. He felt as if someone had taken away everything from him, every hope and dream and emotion that he ever possessed and erased it for eternity. As a wind of despair brewed around him, Gilbert became uneasy and dizzy, suddenly unable to comprehend or think or breathe. "Gil, I'm so desperately sorry."

Anne couldn't bear to look at Gilbert in the eyes. His eyes displayed so many emotions all at once that Anne couldn't even begin to comprehend. His feelings extended into the depths of infiniteness, but Anne could not relate, nor would she allow herself to relate. She had worked it up in her mind that she and Gilbert Blythe were not meant to be all those years ago, and in her unparalleled stubbornness she could not force herself to change that state of mind. She concluded that she must have led Gilbert on unintentionally throughout their childhood without even being aware of it. He wouldn't have dared to ask her the question if he thought that she didn't have romantic feelings toward him. How much she had built up his hopes over the course of years and then shot them down within a matter of minutes. As Anne thought of Gilbert and how depressed he evidently was, she emotionally could not bear the guilt that overwhelmed her at the moment.

Without thinking twice, Anne turned around, her back to Gilbert, and ran into the field, vanishing across the horizon along with the dusk's setting sun. Though Anne's temporary disappearance would cast a glow of darkness upon Gilbert's life, she would return again, like the dawn of the next morning, and resume shining her light on those whom she had previously shone upon with her golden rays.


End file.
